DDTank

Release Date: 2011

Publisher: Aeria Games

Developer: The 7TH Rd (China)

Genre: Shooter, Casual

Sponsor:

DDTank (Best Known as 弹弹堂 in China, Pocky Boom in France ) is a 2D casual online shooter that is developed by Shenzhen 7Road Technology, acquired by ChangYou. The game is currently published by several publishers like game321.com, yoogames.com, aeriagames.com, apps.337.com/pt/ddtank, ddt.hithere.com.

DDTank was firstly introduced in China and later localized by Heroic Era behind Caesary and Evony. In 2011, 7Road Tech took over all distribution rights and licensed DDtank to those publishers above.

In July 6, 2011, a couple of DDtank Chinese publishers (TianYa.cn, 9You.com) has halted the operation in their platform due to the dispute in the interests, according to Sina.

The similar phenomenon reflects on English version of DDtank. According to a person with a tie to DDtank’s developer, publishers like Yoogames, Hithere, AeriaGames may cease the operation because of the imbalance of the increasing costs and decreasing incoming.

Review:

DDTank, of all casual games, boasts an everlasting charisma that seldom fades away since it first came into being, for it’s really designed with the knack to glue whoever seeks for fun and leisure. Different playable designs in it may appeal to male and female to varied extent, yet.

All starts from a lighthearted Tutorial, which informs you of the basic operation of moving the avatar, adjusting angles of attacking, fortifying weapon to boost its power, and at last creating a game house of your own to PK with others. Simple and short as it is, it’s clear and complete enough as lead-in and warm-up, activating the entire entertaining gameplay for you to delve into.

Control is so simple that arrow keys and space bar are sufficient in avatars’ moving around and initiating attacks while mouse is convenient in auxiliary clicking, such as to take quests, , to claim rewards, and to switch between interfaces, etc. Just move your avatar around a little bit and you can then directly jump into the Game House for the core combat of Sports Fight, which is filled with childlike pleasure and humor.

The combat in DDTank can be summarized in one word, that is, diversity. First of all, it is due to the wide range of Random Scenes that bring about varied gaming experience. Each time you enter into a match to compete with another player, the battleground conjures up differently that you may fight in a flat beam suspending in the air, a rolling molehills with many ups and downs, a plain narrow hommock collapsible under attack, a spread of sand dune surrounded by palm trees, and so on and so forth. And then it is the multitude of weapons and supportive boosters that contribute to the versatility. Rich in variety, weapons on offer cover the commonplace types such as AK-47, machine guns, rifles, etc. and rarer ones including ninja star, zax, and even melons; while boosters are no less in choice, providing Final Kill to fire lethal blow, Power-up to launch three successive hits in one attack, Enrage to facilitate damage degree, Teleport to alter locations, just to name a few.

In addition to diversity, other noticeable of the combat lie in the delightful animation and visual effect. Drawn adorable and chubby, in-game figures show matching clumsy yet charming movement, no matter whether they are firing a gun, throwing ninja-stars, crawling on the ground, or welling up with tears when hit by opponents. And every attack in the turn-based combat carries with it special effects, which may show up flashing lights, leave charred stain under gunfire, or directly pound the ground into pits (under which case, your avatar will drop to lower location as well).

Surrounding the Game House in the center, other chambers are also included to enrich the gameplay. Among them, Armory is for weapon fortification which will all the more diversify the attributes of arms and outfits; Shops provides a large wardrobe for you to pick up fashionable articles and accessories so as to shape unique avatar; Wedding Chapel enables couples to get married and enjoy exclusive bonuses; and there are also Hall of Fame, Auction House, Community, and League, etc to serve their own purposes, bringing endless fun.

DDTank makes itself a unique existence in the shooter category with its jovial and joyful gaming style. As a casual game, it turns out to be so addictive that you may initially just mean to play it to idle away a few minutes but only end up obsessed with it for hours before you know it.

Preview:

Turn-based artillery shooters have gained a strong following since mid 1990s, when the Worm series, which features up-to-teeth-armed worms, began to sweep across the globe with the release of its first franchise. I still remember playing Worms at a friend’s place on a crappy computer when I was very young. Times have changed now. My quad-core PC boots in under one minute. And in the electronic gaming industry, new elements keep popping up and the evolution of game graphics is huge.

However, some thing still remains much the same. Although turn-based artillery shooters are not graphics intensive, they are still as fun as they were before, even more so, perhaps. Now there is a new addition to the roster of Worms-esque games: DDtank, published by Aeria Games, is a 2D MMO shooter powered entirely by your flash-enabled browser. It has a lot of same elements as its predecessors, but they are much optimized and expanded. Combining classic features, DDTank is produced using new ideas, turning it into a fun and addicting game which you can easily sink into for hours.

First off, using brightly colored graphics and cute 2d characters, the visuals look beautiful. It features a fairly basic character creation, which leaves you only the choice of what your gender will be and the name you are given. After that you will be promoted to the tutorial, in which you will learn the basic gameplay and be familiar with the game interface from buying new fashion equipment or power-ups to customize your avatar to joining a battle lounge. Then it takes you into the sim fighting.

The battle interface of DDtank is well designed but easily laid out. Buttons are of decent size and are easy to be distinguished based on the icon on them. Overall, it’s well optimized for easy navigation. The gameplay is easy to learn, using left or right directional arrow to move, using upper or down arrow to adjust ejection angle and holding the spacebar to charge the power gauge, which determines how far you can shot. However, the game involves a steeper learning curve and takes a huge amount time to master. To align your shot more precisely, some other factors like distance, terrain elevation, wind velocity, should be considered. When mastered, however, there’s truly a feeling of achievement, when you behold the cannon flying across the sky in unbelievable curve, hitting the maximum map height, and then coming back down finally banging into your opponent’s skull.

It allows two types of battles, which are sports and challenge battles. The sport battles are random quick combats of 1v1, 2v2, 2v3 and up to 4v4, in which the system will automatically set the members of each fraction, no matter how huge the level gaps between them. The challenge battles enable you to join a battle lounge to see whom you’d battle against or create a new one from 1v1 to 4v4 depending on your preference. Moreover, starting a challenge battle in lounge can be a long tedious wait, as it takes too much time to load.

Now let’s get to the ingame economy system. Equipping your avatar with fashion equipment or changing skins can make the character look different from others and help boost its stats a bit more. You can pay by ingame currency, which always comes with quests reward, or pay by real world cash. However, one negative aspect I have with this game is that you cannot get permanent items if you are not a P2P gamer. Items will expire within 30 days if you do not pay to renew them.

Overall, DDTank is a good alternative for a turn-based shooter thanks for its addictive gameplay and cute graphics. With a blend of leveling and power-ups system, the game makes you feel more immersed than its predecessors.

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